ITS A SNAP: The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, otherwise known as food stamps, has seen a huge increase in enrollment over the past decade. One reason: The federal government is actively trying to hook new people into the program.

Maybe the federal government can convince you otherwise.

For seven years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been using food stamp funds to run a recruitment program that attempts to convince more American to sign up for the welfare program.

The so-called “SNAP Outreach Plans” (SNAP stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the technical name for the food stamp program) have included taxpayer-funded advertising on radio and television, bingo games intended to lure seniors into signing up for the program and even “food stamp parties” organized by state level SNAP officials.

The piece centered on Dillie Nerios, a USDA food stamp recruiter in Florida.

“Help is available,” she tells hundreds of seniors each week, the Post wrote. “You deserve it. So, yes or no?”

It’s subtle, but the language being used there is straight out of the Nanny State playbook. “Bring your money home.” “You deserve it.” You’re paying for those government benefits that others are receiving, so why not get a piece of the action for yourself. It’s a message that appeals simultaneously to the altruistic and selfish parts of human nature, without causing the two to contradict each other.

And don’t blame President Barack Obama – or at least don’t blame only Obama. The USDA started running radio ads encouraging Americans to sign up for food stamps back in 2004. During the George W. Bush administration, food stamp enrollment climbed by 63 percent, a good portion of that total coming before the Great Recession.

“Persuasive practices constitute coercing or pressuring an individual to apply, or providing incentives to fill out an application,” the rule says. That means no more food stamp bingo nights, no more high-pressure advertising on radio and TV.

The new rule is the result of the 2014 farm bill, which instructed the USDA to change its policy and stop government agents from coercing people into joining the food stamp brigade. It may not do much to reduce the number of people on the rolls, but it will at least do away with the disturbing paternalistic sign-up efforts.

The lesson in all this: Government should measure the success of its welfare programs by how many people are lifted out of poverty.

A nanny state measures success by how many people it can get enrolled into government programs, outcomes be damned.

Eric Boehm is the national regulatory reporter for Watchdog.org. He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota. His work has appeared in Reason Magazine, National Review Online, The Freeman Magazine, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Washington Examiner and Fox News. He was once featured in a BuzzFeed listicle. Follow him on Twitter @EricBoehm87 and reach him at [email protected]